White Mughals Read Free Page B

father of Sharaf un-Nissa and grandfather of Khair un-Nissa. Following Khair’s marriage to James, Aristu Jah ‘exalted the head’ of Bâqar Ali Khan, ‘awarding him a title and an estate consisting of some villages’. Said to be defective in sight and hard of hearing.
    Durdanah Begum: Wife of Bâqar Ali Khan, mother of Sharaf un-Nissa, grandmother of Khair un-Nissa. From the family of Mir Jafar Ali Khan.
    Sharaf un-Nissa Begum (c.1765-21 July 1847): Daughter of Bâqar Ali Khan; mother of Khair un-Nissa, and much younger second wife of Mehdi Yar Khan, who died in the late 1780s or 1790s, leaving her a widow with two unmarried teenage daughters, after which she returned to her family deorhi. Following Khair’s marriage to James, she was given an estate by the government ‘and maintained it herself’. In her old age her estates were confiscated and she died in poverty.
    Mehdi Yar Khan: Son of Mirza Qasim Khan; father of Khair un-Nissa; husband of Sharaf un-Nissa. Died sometime in the late 1780s or 1790s leaving his much younger widow with two unmarried teenage daughters.
    Khair un-Nissa Begum: The daughter of Sharaf un-Nissa and granddaughter of Bâqar Ali Khan; wife of James Achilles Kirkpatrick. She was originally engaged to Mohammed Ali Khan, son of Bahram ul-Mulk.
    Nazir un-Nissa Begum: Sister of Khair un-Nissa.
    Dustee Ali Khan: Half-brother of Khair un-Nissa and son of Mehdi Yar Khan by an earlier wife.
Other Hyderabadi Omrahs
    Rajah Ragotim Rai: Brahmin nobleman in the circle of Aristu Jah. James disliked him: ‘This enormous vulture must be got rid of somehow’. Sacked and plundered by Mir Alam after the death of Aristu Jah.
    Rajah Chandu Lal: Protégé first of James then of Mir Alam, whom he succeeded in power. Long-time diwan of Nizam Sikander Jah, he was responsible for confiscating the estates of Sharaf un-Nissa. Great patron of poetry.
    Mah Laqa Bai Chanda: Poet, historian and courtesan, initially attached to the durbar of Aristu Jah. Became the lover of both Mir Alam and Mustaqim ud-Daula.

4. LONDON, 1820
    Charles Buller MP, Barbara Isabella Buller: William Kirkpatrick’s daughter and son-in-law. James died in their house in Calcutta; later it was at their house that Kitty met the young Thomas Carlyle.
    Julia Kirkpatrick: Daughter of William Kirkpatrick, wife of Edward Strachey, friend and cousin of Kitty Kirkpatrick.
    Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881): Savant; tutor to the sons of Charles Buller, in whose Calcutta house James died.

DYNASTIC LISTS
The Nizams of Hyderabad
    Nizam ul-Mulk 1724-48
Civil war 1748-62
Nizam Ali Khan 1762-1803
Nizam Sikander Jah 1803-29
Nizam Nasir ud-Daula 1829-57
Ministers
    Aristu Jah 1778-1804
Mir Alam 1804-08
Munir ul-Mulk 1809-32
Rajah Chandu Lal 1832-43
British Residents
    John Kennaway 1788-94
William Kirkpatrick 1794-98
James Achilles Kirkpatrick 1798-1805
Henry Russell (Acting) October-December 1805
Thomas Sydenham 1805-1810
Charles Russell (Acting) June 1810-March 1811
Henry Russell December 1811-1820
Sir Charles Metcalfe 1820-1825
Governors General
    Warren Hastings 1774-85
Marquis Cornwallis 1786-93
Sir John Shore (Acting) 1793-98
Lord Wellesley 1798-1805
Marquis Cornwallis (again) 1805
George Barlow (Acting) 1805-07
Lord Minto 1807-13

Acknowledgements
    I began work on this book in the spring of 1997. Over the five years—and many thousands of miles of travel—since then, innumerable people have been incredibly generous with their hospitality, time, expertise, advice, wisdom, pictures, editing skills, bottles of whisky, family papers, camp beds and cups of tea. They range from the nameless Sufi in a tomb in Bijapur who was kind enough to wave a peacock fan over me while I sat writing notes in the shade of his shrine, through to the best Biryani cook in Hyderabad (he’s called Salim and you can find him in the dhaba facing the Chowk Masjid), to the old shepherd in Bidar who led me up a cliff face to show me the best view of the necropolis of Ashtur. Then of course there